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Ground Beef Burger – Mansion House, Glasgow

Whilst attempting to decide where to visit for our latest burger review, we decided to do something a little different and just choose somewhere completely random without doing any prior research. We used Urbanspoon to randomly select a venue and it returned Mansion House as our next visit. Hoping that the internet gods would randomly lead us to a good burger discovery, we had a quick browse of the menu and set off for Glassford street.

The ground beef burger

Mansion House gives off a particular vibe as soon as you walk through the door. It’s seems like a popular pre-club venue or choice for stag or hen parties, people coming out of the adjoining casino with big wins (or to drown their sorrows) or nearby office workers looking to grab a quick pub lunch. After a quick scan of the menu, I decided to go for the ground beef burger with cheese and bacon. I also spotted fried egg as an optional topping and as many of you know, I’m a sucker for one of these on a burger. I added the egg and Pamela decided to go for the day’s special chicken burger, topped with bacon, haggis and pepper sauce.

The menu advertises the burgers as being served on a focaccia bun and whilst the buns that we were served certainly didn’t appear to be that, it was sadly one of the only highlights of this otherwise disappointing patty. Infact, the most memorable part of this burger was the rather odd man who sat directly across from our table, drinking beer and looking at us the entire time.

The chicken burger topped with haggis and served with pepper sauce

Presentation wise, the beef burger was fine. The fries were served in a metal dish and the entire thing was presented on a wooden serving board. It was a good sized patty and just big enough that I could get my hands around it without it falling apart. It was with the first bite that things fell apart, however.

Taste-wise, I couldn’t pick out any distinct flavours and the patty simply tasted of nothing at all. There didn’t appear to be much in the way of seasoning here and at times I just felt like the patty could have been made of anything at all, with no distinct beefy flavour whatsoever. The bacon was fairly dry and I couldn’t really taste the cheese. It was on there, but none of flavour or texture was coming through. Perhaps a little more cheese would have helped the burger overall? The fried egg was fairly average and was a little overcooked. I was hoping for a cheesy, eggy, beef-infused messy burger but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed as we left the bar.

The chicken burger special was slightly better with the chicken itself not being overly dry, which is often the case with them. Again, the bacon didn’t really add much (is anyone else getting seriously bored of bacon and cheddar topped burgers?) but the pepper sauce delivered a punch-in-the-face like burst of flavour and added additional moisture and a nice peppery kick to the chicken itself. The rest of the sauce was soaked up in the bun, which was probably my favourite part of the meal.

Each burger was served with chunky fries which were a pretty flavoursome, if a little salty – albeit not as bad as the almost snow covered-like fries from Charlie Rocks that we experienced a few months ago.

As mentioned previously, the menu advertises each burger as being served on a focaccia bun but what we received certainly didn’t look or taste like it. The bun that was used; however, more-so resembled a lightly sweetened brioche and was easily the best part of the whole meal.

Overall, both of these burgers left me feeling cold. The beef burger was bland and very forgettable and while the chicken was a little better, it was by no means the best chicken burger I’ve had in Glasgow with both Ad Lib and Lebowski’s springing to mind as offering similarly priced, far better alternatives.

For £8.75, Mansion House should perhaps think about reviewing what type of food they are sending out. This burger reminded me of one that you’d normally find at a well known UK high street chain pub, only with a better bun and slightly better presentation; however, even these two factors wouldn’t make me want to part with another £8.75 or make a return visit.

Inside the ground beef burger

Price: £8.75 (extra toppings £1)

SUMMARY+ Light, tasty bun+ Pepper sauce added a nice flavour to the chicken– Beef burger was pretty flavourless– Bacon and cheese added nothing to the flavour, egg was overcooked– Not good value for money compared to other nearby burgers

Have you tried this burger? Did you love it? If so, vote for it in the ‘Glasgow’s best burger’ award by clicking here.

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